Newington Housing Association Forms Strategic Partnership with HomeMaster
Newington Housing Association in Belfast has partnered with HomeMaster to deliver a new housing and financial management solution to support a new way of working.
Anthony Kerr, Chief Executive of Newington Housing Association explains: “We’d had our legacy system for over 25 years and HomeMaster is now giving us the opportunity for a complete re-think of how we work. It’s truly cloud-based and can be easily operated using a phone, tablet, laptop or PC. This enables us to be agile working with increased tenant-facing interaction and focus for the services we deliver.
“The way of the world changed in 2020, and we were looking for a system that would offer easier hybrid-working. We were also looking to invest in a tenant portal, which HomeMaster provides. HomeMaster also brings all our housing/asset management, finance, and compliance requirements together into one system. We don’t have to host it on our own server, making it more cost-effective.”
Co-designed by Housing Professionals
Anthony continues: “When we were looking for a new solution, we were completely blown-away by HomeMaster’s ease of use and accessibility of the information we require. We can tailor the system to meet the needs of each team and individual.
“It was fairly evident in our early discussions with HomeMaster that the system was co-designed by housing professionals. It ticked all the boxes in terms of what we required – ease of use, ability to extract information and produce reports. With everyone using the same system, we can measure Key Performance Indicators and have all the information easily available to make strategic decisions, as well as operate all functions more efficiently on a day-to-day basis.
“HomeMaster allows us to be more efficient and streamlined in how we deal with tenants and contractors as well finance and budgets. With a single system it also provides better value for money in terms of licence fees and training costs. We also found the straight-forward pricing structure attractive.
Staff are Very Enthused
“From the initial half-day workshop delivered by the HomeMaster team, staff enthusiasm has been very high,” adds Anthony. “HomeMaster is currently migrating the data from our legacy system and the process and support so far has been fantastic.
He concludes: “We have an ambitious migration and implementation plan, and the early indicators are very positive.”
Jack Thompson, Client Services Director at HomeMaster added: “We are very excited to have formed a strategic partnership with Newington Housing Association, which is our first client in Belfast. We’re collaborating with them to understand their specific needs and tailoring their reporting to meet their regulatory requirements. We look forward to helping them to deliver more tenant-facing and streamlined working practices.”